If it was published in Australia the National Library of Australia should have a copy. In fact they appear to have two. The NLA appears to offer some form of copying service or perhaps you could bribe one of our Canberran members to go have a look?

cheers but not really interested in buying a copy....i live in london anyway. just wondering more about what sort of routes were in there and how relevent they are to what people climb these days....for example i remebmer the Kangoroo Tail on Uluru getting a write up, although i imagine most climbers would consider this off limits.

On 13/01/2013 Doug wrote:>On 9/07/2009 nmonteith wrote:>>The List>>>Simpson Desert - Chambers Pillar>>Have you done anything on Chambers Pillar, Neil? How many routes are there>and at what sort of grade? We might be heading that way sometime in the>not-too distant future ...

There are crags on that list I've never even heard of! Gara Gorge? Clifton? And crags that should be nowhere near a classic climbs list. and i will continue to hold my controversial opinion that Little Thor, Bard and Quo Vadis are far from the best Arapiles has to offer. Simey and I pretty much spent the whole 40 hours of driving to Frog and back a while ago debating what were Australia's classic climbs. That and the endlessly fascinating dramas that are Simey's love life.

On 13/01/2013 Wendy wrote:>Simey and I pretty much spent the whole 40 hours of driving to Frog and back a while ago debating what were Australia's classic climbs. That and the endlessly fascinating dramas that are Simey's love life.

I don't have dramas! It's all good times.

As for a new list of Classic Climbs of Australia... I will start a new thread soon getting feedback on the 100 Classic Climbs that Gareth Llewellin and I have tentatively listed for a new book.

On 13/01/2013 Wendy wrote:>There are crags on that list I've never even heard of! Gara Gorge? Clifton?> And crags that should be nowhere near a classic climbs list. and i will>continue to hold my controversial opinion that Little Thor, Bard and Quo>Vadis are far from the best Arapiles has to offer.

You are totally missing the point with that publication Wendy.
It was a snapshot at a point in time when the hardest climb was (probably) grade 28, and no previous book had covered the variety of climbs in Australia. The author (Joe Friend), attempted to capture the full spirit of the many dimensions of the sport in Australia at that time.

It tried to define a 'classic' as;
A route that stands out from its class, using criteria such as popularity, memorable character, atmosphere/experience, sequence of moves, rock quality, architecture and beauty. Its main aim was that the ambitious scope of vision it covered, would provide a cornerstone for a new depth of climbing appreciation at the time.

~> Take yourself back 30 years and try to imagine... Oh, I forget; you were only a babe in arms then!

>Simey and I pretty much spent the whole 40 hours of driving to Frog and back a while ago debating what were Australia's classic climbs. That and the endlessly fascinating dramas that are Simey's love life.

I dare say you would need more than 40 hours for that, despite what he tells you!
Heh, heh, heh.

Wendy. Disappointed in you. Gara Gorge is Armidale's mega area, one of the best granite areas in Australia and has an over abundance of amazing offwidths that you would love. And I have extolled the virtues many times. There are many seperate cliffs like the Three Sisters, Dome Wall and such, and the offwidth on top of the 150m Grey Wall is probably the most amazing oone in Australia.

Action is actually in Dangars gorge, is a 150m of scary crap.

I met a guy who travelled around Australia for three years climbing and surfing, using Joe's book as the guidebook. They did the Sydney Route on Frenchman's using the books description!!!!!

I bagged this book out when it first came out but now I think it is a classic in its record of first ascents by the people involved.

I lot of people seem to bag Joe Friend's book but I kinda like it despite its failings. It's introduced me to lots of great climbing areas that maybe aren't fashionable these days and don't get the publicity, but they still have fun and interesting climbing and worth exploring. One hot summer's day I dragged a euro sport bumbly chick across Girraween to find and climb some "line" on Mt Norman using the book; it was a fun and memorable day out.

What I do get from the book is that way back in 1975, despite there being so few climbers about, lots of really interesting, epic, adventurous stuff was getting done. Compare now where there are many, many more climbers out and about, but it seems less really interesting, epic, ground-breaking adventurous stuff is getting done.

On 14/01/2013 Superstu wrote:>I lot of people seem to bag Joe Friend's book .....>>What I do get from the book is that way back in 1975, despite there being>so few climbers about, lots of really interesting, epic, adventurous stuff>was getting done. >>
Exactly - AND a book was published about that in Australia. Anyone bagging it out because of what it is not, or compared to anything now, has no perspective.

On 14/01/2013 Superstu wrote:>>What I do get from the book is that way back in 1975, despite there being>so few climbers about, lots of really interesting, epic, adventurous stuff>was getting done. Compare now where there are many, many more climbers>out and about, but it seems less really interesting, epic, ground-breaking>adventurous stuff is getting done.>
As you probably appreciate this is neither peculiar to Australia nor to the era. The old accounts of what got done in the mountains (and the crags) way back when (50, 100, 150 yo) with minimal gear and maximum intestinal fortitude have humbled every generation since. Then again the mediocre stuff probably never gets written up nor passed down so perhaps it is a bit jaded.